Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Post Office: Finance

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding from the public purse will be provided to Post Office Ltd in the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: Holding answer received on 06 June 2019



Draft AnswerBetween 2010 and 2018 the Government provided nearly £2 billion to maintain and invest in our national network. This led to the most stable Post Office network in a generation, with 93% of the population living within 1 mile and over 99% within three miles of their nearest branch. The funding was split into investment funding to support the modernisation of the network and the business and subsidy payment to sustain those branches that are not sustainable on a commercial basis. Government investment has also enabled the modernisation of over 7,500 branches, added more than 200,000 opening hours per week and established the Post Office as the largest network trading on Sunday. The current Funding Agreement between BEIS and Post Office Limited runs until the end of March 2021. The funding provided by Government over FY 2019/20 & 2020/21 is as per below:YearNetwork Subsidy Payment (£ million)Investment funding (£ million)   2019/2050422020/2150-

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Cameroon: Armed Conflict

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK was represented at the informal meeting of UN Security Council Member States to discuss the conflict in Cameroon on the 13 May 2019.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. Our Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN raised UK concerns during an informal discussion on Cameroon at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on 13 May noting that humanitarian assistance and dialogue to tackle root cases of the conflict were needed. The UK also raised concerns in a statement at the bi-annual UNOCA (UN Office for Central Africa) briefing in the UNSC on 13 December 2018, calling for urgent action by the Government of Cameroon to prevent further conflict. The British Government remains committed to supporting those affected by the ongoing crisis in Cameroon, and is providing lifesaving assistance to thousands of people following a £2.5m contribution in December 2018 to the UN emergency appeal to address the crisis.

Cameroon: Armed Conflict

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of accuracy of the allegations of incommunicado detention and torture by the Cameroonian security forces.

Harriett Baldwin: ​There are credible reports of human rights violations and abuses committed by both security forces and armed separatists in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. High levels of violence including kidnappings, burning of buildings and acts of sexual violence are driving people from their homes. The UK continues to call for an immediate end to violence on all sides and urges the Government of Cameroon to investigate all allegations of breaches of human rights. We also call on the Government to uphold human rights including freedom of expression and to ensure the timely, free and fair trial or release of all detainees.

Cameroon: Armed Conflict

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment she has made of the accuracy allegations of assaults and kidnappings by separatists in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

Harriett Baldwin: ​There are credible reports of human rights violations and abuses committed by both security forces and armed separatists in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. High levels of violence including kidnappings, burning of buildings and acts of sexual violence are driving people from their homes. The UK continues to call for an immediate end to violence on all sides and urges the Government of Cameroon to investigate all allegations of breaches of human rights. We also call on the Government to uphold human rights including freedom of expression and to ensure the timely, free and fair trial or release of all detainees.

Cameroon: Armed Conflict

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation by Human Rights Watch that sanctions be placed against high-level individuals on both sides of the conflict in Cameroon responsible for human rights abuses.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK welcomes the visit to Cameroon in May by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Cameroon's reported openness to working with the UN to address the severe human rights and humanitarian situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions and the North of Cameroon. It is imperative that urgent action is now taken by the Government of Cameroon, with the support of regional partners and the wider international community, to prevent further escalation of the crisis. This includes the investigation of all allegations of human rights violations and abuses and the establishment of a credible political dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict. The UK stands ready to support.

Cameroon: Politics and Government

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK Government are providing security support or assistance to the Cameroonian Government in the form of (a) financial assistance, (b) security infrastructure, (c) military training and (d) weaponry.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The UK has a longstanding relationship with Cameroon and we value the shared history and cooperation. The UK and Cameroon cooperate closely in the fight against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, for which the UK provides limited military training. This training is provided in line with the UK Government's Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance and emphasises the importance of human rights. Cameroon remains a key and effective contributor to the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), established in 2015 to facilitate regional co-ordination of military operations against Boko Haram.

Department of Health and Social Care

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many emergency ambulance dispatches were made for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in areas with high levels of air pollution during April 2019; and what comparative assessment he has made of those figures and the average number of dispatches for that disease in April over the last (a) 20, (b) 10 and (c) five years.

Seema Kennedy: According to the Daily Air Quality Index there were ‘moderate’ to ‘very high’ levels of air pollution in some areas of the United Kingdom between 7 and 8 April and between 15 to 25 April 2019. The figures for emergency hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in this period are not available in the requested format and a comparative assessment has not been made.In January 2019, the Government launched the Clean Air Strategy, which sets out plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution to save lives and protect nature.The Department collaborated with the National Review of Asthma Deaths led by the Royal College of Physicians which examined the circumstances surrounding deaths from asthma and reported in 2015. Lessons learned about the factors that contribute to COPD deaths inform the National Health Service about what constitutes good care, and encourages the development of appropriate services for people with asthma.

Strokes

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many emergency ambulance dispatches there were for stroke in areas of high levels of air pollution during April 2019; and what comparative assessment he has made of those figures and the average number of dispatches in April over the last (a) 20, (b) 10 and (c) five years.

Seema Kennedy: According to the Daily Air Quality Index there were ‘moderate’ to ‘very high’ levels of air pollution in some areas of the United Kingdom between 7 and 8 April and between 15 to 25 April 2019. The figures for emergency ambulance dispatches for stroke in this period are not available in the requested format and a comparative assessment has not been made.In January 2019, the Government launched the Clean Air Strategy, which sets out plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution to save lives, protect nature and boost the economy.Preventing stroke is one of NHS England’s priorities and, following the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan in January 2019, NHS England has been working closely with the Stroke Association to develop a national stroke programme to be delivered within the timescale of this plan.

Nursing and Midwifery Council: Expenditure

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading I: Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading I: Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading I: Supply Chain Coordination Limited.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading K: NHS Commissioning Board (known as NHS England).

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading O: Health Education England.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading Q: Care Quality Commission.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading Q: NHS Digital (The Health and Social Care Information Centre).

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the table headed Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) expenditure on page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20: Main Supply Estimates, published in May 2019, if he will publish a breakdown of spending under the heading R: NHS Property Services.

Stephen Hammond: The figures contained within page 138 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2019-20 show details of the planned resource, capital and cash budget for each arm’s length body within the Department’s group, available at the time of production.Details of each departmental body’s spending plans will be published in their individual business plan.The Department prepares a Memorandum which is published by the Health and Social Care Committee, this provides further information on the Main Estimates publication. The Memorandum is prepared in accordance with the guidance issued by the Parliamentary Scrutiny Unit and can be found at the following link:https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/commons/scrutinyunit/reports-and-publications/main-estimates-2019-20/

HIV Infection: Drugs

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are participating in the PrEP Impact Trial; and what  assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of spaces available on that trial on the 31 May 2019.

Seema Kennedy: With the expansion of 13,000 additional places for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial in February 2019, the total PrEP Impact Trial size is 26,000 places in England.PrEP Trial recruitment monitoring is regularly reported to the programme oversight board, the trial steering committee, and the trial management group to continually assess the capacity to answer trial study objectives. The Board met on 20 March and received an update on trial site capacity and commissioner approvals of additional trial places. More information on the release of trial places is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/#AprilFurther information on the PrEP Impact Trial can be found at the following link:https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/

HIV Infection: Drugs

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of public education on the the benefits of PrEP.

Seema Kennedy: In 2018, to assess the adequacy of public education on the benefits of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in collaboration with PrEPster, Public Health England (PHE) conducted a mapping exercise to assess what other health promotion work is being conducted by community organisations and the National Health Service around PrEP. The results of this mapping exercise and more on PrEPster at is available at the following links:https://www.bhiva.org/file/5b7fabf6b4b25/PrEP-and-Health-Promotion-activity.pdfhttps://prepster.infoAdditionally, the national HIV prevention programme is helping address awareness of PrEP through promoting a combination prevention approach to raise awareness and promote actions to take on the various ways to prevent HIV. PHE also runs the HIV Prevention Innovation Fund which supports volunteer organisations spearheading new approaches to HIV prevention and focuses on engaging at-risk or under-served communities. Since 2017 the Innovation Fund has funded seven projects centred around raising knowledge and awareness of PrEP, particularly in underserved populations such as women and black African communities. Projects report that levels of knowledge about PrEP in these groups is lower than among gay and bisexual men. The 2018 projects are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018

HIV Infection: Discrimination

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.

Seema Kennedy: In April 2016, Public Health England (PHE) commissioned a four-year national HIV prevention programme for most at-risk populations, for men who have sex with men, Black African communities and other groups, in whom there is as higher or emerging burden of infection. To reduce levels of HIV-related stigma within affected communities and more widely, the programme manages a national partnership of multi-sector organisations across England to deliver a range of information and resources that will improve the proportion of individuals in the most at-risk populations who are able to make safe and sustainable sexual health choices. These resources can be viewed at the following link:https://www.hivpreventionengland.org.uk/PHE’s HIV Prevention Innovation Fund has allocated funds to projects addressing HIV stigma through innovative, community-led interventions. This has included the reduction of HIV related stigma as a priority since 2015. This fund can be viewed at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018The People Living with HIV Stigma Survey UK will run from January to July 2019. More information on the survey and the 2015 report can be found at the following link:http://www.stigmaindexuk.org/

Hospitals: Data Protection

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of subject access requests made to NHS hospitals were responded to within the correct timescale since the General Data Protection Regulation came into force; and what steps he is taking to reduce the volume of those requests.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We do not currently collect this data. Individual trusts may hold this data but are not required to share this with the Government. There are currently no steps being taken to reduce the volume of these requests.

NHS: Training

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which groups of NHS staff will receive training from Health Education England.

Seema Kennedy: Health Education England has been commissioned to produce e-learning resources for clinicians and healthcare professionals to raise awareness of the regulation, guidance and evidence around cannabis-based products for medicinal use, and to build confidence in appropriate use and prescribing of such products. These resources will shortly be available and will be accessible by all healthcare professionals across the United Kingdom.

Integrated Care Systems: Harrow

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Integrated Care System would be, under the NHS Long Term Plan, for the area covered by the London Borough of Harrow; and if will he make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: The NHS Long Term Plan confirms that Integrated Care Systems (ICS) will cover the whole country by April 2021, growing out of the current network of sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs). The area covered by the London Borough of Harrow presently sits within North West London STP. However, the geography and membership for the future ICS in that system has yet to be confirmed.

Mental Health Services: Private Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to allow private sector organisations to run mental health services in (a) Harrow, (b) London and (c) throughout England; and if will he make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning mental health services, including from private sector organisations, to meet the reasonable requirements of their patients.When commissioning, CCGs also have a duty to consult patients and the public at various specified stages of the commissioning process, including when creating commissioning plans, developing and considering proposals for change and making decisions affecting the operation of commissioning.CCGs must ensure that all providers, including private sector organisations, provide safe services of the highest quality possible.

NHS: Private Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, if he will set out the circumstances in which a patient will be offered private care, funded by the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: The Government’s position is that the National Health Service is now, and always will be, a public service free at the point of delivery.The independent sector has been providing care for NHS patients under successive Governments. Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), alongside NHS England commissioners, with their clinical expertise, are responsible for commissioning high quality care for their populations. We are clear that patients should be able to access the best possible treatments based on quality of care, and not type of provider.Under the NHS Choice Framework, published by the Department, those choosing where to go for their first appointment as an outpatient have a legal right to choose any provider which provides clinically appropriate care for their condition, and has been appointed by the NHS to provide that service, meaning it has been commissioned by a CCG or NHS England to provide this NHS service. This may be an NHS provider, a voluntary, charity or social enterprise organisation, or an independent sector provider.

Blood: Contamination

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that contaminated blood is not donated to patients.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation until it is safe for them to do so.All blood donations are routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors, human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released into the blood supply chain.NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees: the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.

Insomnia

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help people with severe insomnia.

Seema Kennedy: The majority of patients experiencing a sleep disorder such as insomnia are diagnosed and managed by general practitioners (GPs) in primary care. Where the disorder cannot be resolved in primary care, or does not resolve itself, a referral to a specialist clinic may be appropriate. The NHS website provides advice and guidance for dealing with insomnia.

NHS: Drugs

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) NICE and (b) NHS England take into account the availability of medicines under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme when assessing those same medicines for approval as new medicines.

Seema Kennedy: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence takes into account the availability of medicines through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) in terms of scheduling its assessments, however the process followed in assessing the technology is the same as for non-EAMS technologies.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the interim report produced by NHS England to identify the barriers that are blocking access to prescribed medicinal cannabis by patients.

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the final report by NHS England to identify the barriers that are blocking access to prescribed medicinal cannabis by patients.

Seema Kennedy: The NHS England process review is underway and interviews are scheduled to take place over June 2019. The interim report will not be published, as by its nature any findings will be incomplete. The Government is, however, committed to publishing a summary of the final findings and recommendations before summer recess.

Plastic Surgery: Lancashire

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many corrective medical procedures were carried out by (a) Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, (b) University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, (c) Blackpool Teaching Hospitals to (i) rectify and (ii) treat complications following privately paid for cosmetic procedures; and what the cost was to the NHS of (A) those corrective procedures and (B) associated care.

Stephen Hammond: The information requested on corrective medical procedures is not collected centrally.

Organs: Donors

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage organ donation in BAME communities.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Shortages of organs for transplant are relevant to people from all backgrounds but are particularly acute for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) patients, who are more likely to need an organ transplant. The Department launched a campaign in July 2018, delivered by NHS Blood and Transplant, with support from the National Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance, to increase donation rates by raising awareness and breaking down barriers to donation within these communities. A toolkit for hon. Members is available at the following link:http://bit.ly/bameODtoolkitAs part of the campaign, funding was made available for a community investment scheme and in January 2019, 25 projects were successful in sharing £140,000 in funding to break down myths and barriers and increase support for organ donation among BAME communities. Organisations representing Jain, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Swahili, black and Asian Christians, black African and Caribbean and multi-faith groups received funding for their projects.In addition, the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent Act) 2019 will be introducing a new system of consent for organ and tissue donation in England, from 2020, to help increase the number of donors. In April, NHS Blood and Transplant launched a 12-month communication campaign before the law comes into force, to raise awareness of the changes and the options available under the new system. The campaign will target BAME communities and campaign materials have been developed to resonate with different audiences and communities. NHS Blood and Transplant also plans to translate the leaflet containing details of the new law into different languages. NHS Blood and Transplant will be seeking the support of various BAME communities and faith and belief organisations to spread the campaign message.From 2020, health education will become compulsory in all state-funded primary and secondary schools. This will include the teaching of the science relating to blood, organ and stem cell donation.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of people with type 1 diabetes who receive the Freestyle Libre system on the NHS.

Seema Kennedy: Glucose monitoring technology, such as flash glucose monitors like Freestyle Libre will continue to be available to those meeting the relevant clinical criteria.The NHS Long Term Plan announced that the National Health Service will ensure that, in line with clinical guidelines, eligible patients with type 1 diabetes benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors from April 2019, ending the variation patients in some parts of the country are facing.

Pharmacy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to recent trends in the number of community pharmacies closing, what his policy is on community pharmacy.

Seema Kennedy: The Department is closely monitoring the market to identify and address issues that may impact patient access to pharmacy services. Access to National Health Service pharmaceutical services remains good: there are over 11,500 pharmacies in England, an increase of approximately 12% in the last decade.In December 2016, as part of a wider package of reforms and to maintain access to NHS pharmaceutical services, the Government introduced the Pharmacy Access Scheme, which helps to support the financial viability of pharmacies in areas with fewer pharmacies.

Malnutrition

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of hospital admissions due to malnutrition in the next 10 years.

Seema Kennedy: There has been no central estimate of the potential number or proportion of hospital admissions due to malnutrition in the next 10 years.

Department for International Development

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to ensure that Official Development Assistance provided to the Palestinian Authority does not end up funding terrorist activities.

Dr Andrew Murrison: DFID has robust measures in place to ensure UK Aid reaches its intended beneficiaries. UK aid to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) health and education sectors is channelled through the EU Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE). Our money goes into a special, dedicated bank account before being paid to individuals who have been vetted in advance. The bank account is only used for UK aid. Independent auditors check that the money paid out from the special bank account only went to the vetted individuals after every disbursement. UK’s financial aid to support the PA’s water and energy sectors will be channelled through The World Bank Partnership for Infrastructure Development in the West Bank and Gaza Multi Donor Trust Fund. UK aid will flow from the trust fund to dedicated accounts that will be managed by the PA in accordance with rules established by the World Bank, and be subject to the review of external financial auditors to provide assurance that the expenditure of funds was only on agreed programme activities.

Syria: Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance his Department is providing to the three million civilians trapped among Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham fighters in Syria.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK remains deeply concerned for the three million people living in Idlib governorate, the majority of which is currently controlled by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). DFID is working closely with UN and NGO partners to deliver life-saving assistance such as food, shelter and healthcare to the most vulnerable people across Idlib, including those who have been displaced by recent escalations in violence. In 2018/19, we provided over £80 million to support such humanitarian activities in Northwest Syria. Our programmes across Syria have extensive controls in place to ensure that aid delivered by DFID-funded partners reaches those who need it and does not benefit extremist groups such as HTS. In addition to our humanitarian effort, the UK continues to use our position in the UN Security Council to advocate for the protection of all civilians, aid workers and journalists in Syria, and was instrumental in convening two emergency UN sessions on Idlib on 10 and 17 May. Most recently, at a meeting of the UN Security Council on 28 May, the UK called for the Syrian regime to abide by international law and for all parties to adhere to agreed ceasefires and cessations of hostilities in Idlib.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Heathrow Airport: Non-domestic Rates

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount paid in business rates by Heathrow Airport to (a) Hillingdon and (b) Ealing Council.

Rishi Sunak: The Department does not hold information on business rates paid by individual businesses on local ratings lists.

Ministry of Defence

There But Not There: Finance

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has she made of the impact of money from the public purse disbursed to There But Not There.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 June 2019, to Question 257678.



There But not There: Finance
(Word Document, 27.77 KB)

Defence Medical Services: Pensions

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the tapered annual allowance on the number of Defence Medical Service doctors leaving the armed forces.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect of the tapered annual allowance on the retention of armed forces doctors.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Defence and Chancellor of the Exchequer have not yet discussed this particular issue. However, given concerns expressed by Defence Medical Services personnel and the well-publicised discussions in the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Defence has consulted internally on pension taxation, including the issue of tapering.We recognise the current situation with pension taxation (including tapered annual allowance) is a risk to retention and are monitoring any associated increase in the outflow of personnel. To date, monitoring suggests no apparent increase in the voluntary outflow of Medical Officers, but we accept this might change in the future.

Defence Medical Services: Vacancies

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the effect of shortages in Defence Medical Service doctors on the ability to deploy forces.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Against a backdrop of medical workforce shortfalls nationally and across the global health care sector, we also have a number of specialty areas where we are experiencing consultant shortfalls. These are being monitored and addressed through normal workforce control mechanisms. To date this has not affected our ability to deploy forces on any directed tasks or operations.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Department's policy to require that people applying for personal independence payments provide proof of identity prior to processing a completed application form.

Justin Tomlinson: It is critical that DWP verifies a customer's identity correctly in all circumstances. Effective identity verification and authentication, using commonly applied standards across the Department, will protect the personal data of customers and make a direct contribution to the prevention of identity fraud. DWP does require people applying for Personal Independence Payment to provide proof of identity. This is sought prior to processing a completed application form to ensure any benefit awarded is paid to the right person. This proof is initially sought verbally at the start of the claim process when the customer will be asked security questions from the information DWP already holds. If we are unable to establish Identity Verification verbally then DWP will ask the customer to provide evidence of ID such as a Passport or Birth Certificate.

Carer's Allowance: Young People

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to ensure that young carers who also attend university full-time are eligible for the Carer's Allowance.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by all informal carers.We think it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, rather than the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. Part-time students may be able to claim Carer’s Allowance though. This reflects long-standing principles of the benefit system and we have no plans to change the rules. Department for Work and Pensions officials work very closely with their Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care counterparts to ensure that young carers get the help and support they need.

Personal Independence Payment

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administrative cost is of processing a new application for personal independence payment under normal rules.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost is to the public purse of processing a new personal independence payment application under special rules for terminal illness.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 30 April 2019 to Question 245707, Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses, whether the Assessment Provider discusses a personal independence payment claim made under special rules for terminal illness with the claimant’s GP prior to rejecting as a special rules case for not satisfying the terminally ill definition.

Justin Tomlinson: Assessment Providers undertake Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) provisions in accordance with the department’s PIP Assessment Guide. Medical evidence is required to be able to advise the department on a claim, and this is often provided on form DS1500 along with the claim. When it appears that the criteria for a SRTI claim is not met, the Assessment Provider will contact the health professional(s) named on the customer’s claim or records to clarify the situation prior to issuing their advice to the department.

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 30 April 2019 to Question 245707, Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses, what criteria is used by Assessment Providers to determine whether a claimant does not satisfy the terminally ill definition.

Justin Tomlinson: The criteria used by Personal Independence Payment Assessment Providers dealing with claims under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) are set out in legislation and are that the claimant: ‘is suffering from a progressive disease and death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 6 months’.

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 18 March 2019 to Question 230077, Personal Independence Payment, for what reasons 100 claims made under special rules for the terminally ill were disallowed due to non-return of Part 2 within the time limit.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Some claims to Personal Independence Payment made under special rules for terminally ill people can be found not to satisfy the definition of terminal illness. When this occurs the claim is processed under the normal rules, which includes asking the claimant to complete a PIP2 questionnaire. A claim can be disallowed if the claimant fails to return the PIP2 questionnaire under the normal rules process, even though the claimant originally made their claim under special rules for terminally ill people.

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the accessibility of the digital DS1500 service by GPs in the Welsh NHS who do not (a) have NHS smartcards and (b) use NHS.net email addresses.

Justin Tomlinson: User research with clinicians to develop the Report that a patient may live less than 6 months (Digital DS1500) found that using the NHS smartcard authentication into the service was the preferred approach to ensure sensitive patient data was protected. Extending smartcard identity management into Wales would be a decision for NHS Wales and at present there are no active plans to pursue this.

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 209781, Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses, how many claimants who registered under special rules for terminal illness over a year after being disallowed at initial decision under normal rules died within (a) three months and (b) six months of their registration.

Justin Tomlinson: Between April 2013 and October 2018, 2,840 Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claims were registered under Special Rules for Terminally Ill people (SRTI) by claimants at least 12 months after they had previously been disallowed at initial decision under normal rules. To put this into context, over 4 million applications to PIP were made between April 2013 and 31st October 2018. The table below shows the number of these PIP claimants who died within 3 months or within 6 months of their SRTI registration between April 2013 and 30th April 2019. Table 1: Number of Claimants who died after their Special Rules for The Terminally Ill registration which took place at least 12 months after a Normal Rules initial disallowance Time between Special Rules Registration and DeathNumber of ClaimantsLess Than 3 Months440Less Than 6 Months740 Source: PIP ADS and Customer Information System Notes:These figures include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.By definition the less than 3 months’ figure is included in the less than 6 months’ figure.These figures include claimants whose case was disallowed at initial decision under Normal rules who then went on to make a subsequent claim under SRTi at least 12 months later. This does not take into account any mandatory reconsideration or appeal action so some of these claimants may have subsequently been awarded PIP.Only the closest subsequent registration is counted. For example, a claimant may have made more than one subsequent claim under SRTI. In such a case, only the closest subsequent registration is counted in this data.Only the closest initial clearance is counted. For example, a claimant may have had multiple disallowances under Normal Rules for different claims. In such a case, only the closest initial disallowance to the subsequent registration is counted in this data.The point of application is taken as the day the claimant registered a claim to PIP as recorded on the PIP computer system.This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.Data is as recorded on the PIP Computer System.Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.Figures cover Special Rules registrations made up to and including 31st October 2018 and claimant deaths up to 30th April 2019.GB only. Under the Social Security (Notification of Deaths) Regulations 2012 and s125 of Social Security Administration Act 1992 date of death is provided to the Department for all registered deaths. Additionally, next of kin also provide information on the date of death of an individual and this information is used appropriately in the administration of Departmental benefits.

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 209781, Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses, how much it cost in administration to process claims from initially registering under normal rules to receiving an award under special rules for terminal illness.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Department for Work and Pensions: Market Research

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she takes to ensure market research conducted for her Department has provision for deaf people to respond.

Justin Tomlinson: The DWP uses the Research Marketplace Dynamic Purchasing System to contract its social research. All service providers registered on the System are obliged to operate within the stipulations of all prevailing disability legislation in operation within the UK. In addition, all social research the Department undertakes complies with the principles laid out in the Government Social Research ‘Ethical Assurance for Social Research in Government’ framework. This includes Principle 3 (Enabling participation), which states that: ‘The potential impact of choices in research design (such as sample design, data collection method and so on) on participation should be considered. In particular, the effect of research design on such groups as ethnic minorities, those with caring responsibilities, and those with physical or mental impairment should be considered. Consideration should be given to issues likely to act as a barrier to participation, and reasonable steps taken to address these.’ Accessibility requirements are therefore considered on a project by project basis in accordance with this Principle.

Department for Work and Pensions: Market Research

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department had with charities and third sector organisations on ensuring market research on her Department's polices was accessible for people with that disabilities.

Justin Tomlinson: All social research the Department undertakes complies with the principles laid out in the Government Social Research ‘Ethical Assurance for Social Research in Government’ framework. This includes Principle 3 (Enabling participation), which states that: ‘The potential impact of choices in research design (such as sample design, data collection method and so on) on participation should be considered. In particular, the effect of research design on such groups as ethnic minorities, those with caring responsibilities, and those with physical or mental impairment should be considered. Consideration should be given to issues likely to act as a barrier to participation, and reasonable steps taken to address these.’ Accessibility requirements are therefore considered on a project by project basis in accordance with this Principle. No record has been kept of any specific discussions with charities and third sector organisations on ensuring that research undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions is accessible for people with disabilities.

Department for Work and Pensions: Market Research

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints her Department received on accessibility of market research and surveys for people with a disability in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a central record of complaints relating to its research programme. Therefore, no data is available. The DWP endeavours to deal with all complaints swiftly and with due consideration from the relevant researchers, with processes in place for complaints to be handled by contractors and the Department as appropriate. The DWP uses the Research Marketplace Dynamic Purchasing System to contract its social research. All service providers registered on the System are obliged to operate within the stipulations of all prevailing disability legislation in operation within the UK.

Home Office

Home Office: Disclosure of Information

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into with departmental staff in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: We have checked the records that the department has kept since the introduction of the Cabinet Office guidance on settlement agreements on 1 February 2015 and confirm that we have one record, of using an NDA with a departmental staff member in July 2015.The use of this NDA was unintentional i.e. the standard NDA paragraph was accidently left in the template by mistake. We are not aware of the Home Office using NDA for departmental staff other than this since the new guidance was introduced. However, the records examined were cross-matched from several different data sets, assembled for different purposes. As there were some gaps in the data sets, while we are confident this was the only instance, we cannot guarantee that we were able to identify every case.

Disclosure and Barring Service: Welsh Language

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made with the development of the Disclosure and Barring Service in the Welsh language.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to allow online applicants to the Disclosure and Barring Service to complete their application in the Welsh language.

Victoria Atkins: The DBS are committed to providing a full end to end service in Welsh. Advice is available to Welsh DBS users at:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about/welsh-language-scheme#dbs-certificatesThe DBS also provide a dedicated Welsh language phone line available to support applicants. This can be found at: 03000 200 191At present a Welsh application route is available for the disclosure Basic check service. DBS are currently transitioning their IT services to new suppliers and are exploring alternative options to deliver new online Welsh language applications for Standard and Enhanced checks.

Alcoholic Drinks: Sales

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 248072, whether his Department has a timeframe for the introduction of digital forms of identification for the purchase of alcohol.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office has no timeframe for amending the mandatory licensing condition on age verification to enable the use of digital forms of identification.

Home Office: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office workforce management information records only show members of staff who are currently transferred or Seconded out of the Home Office. No rolling records are maintained for staff transferred or seconded who have since returned to the Home Office. In addition, these records do not identify the specific work streams an individual has been working on.Manual record checks would involve a disproportionate cost and would be unlikely to be able to provide the information being sought.

Home Office: Brexit

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officials in his Department have been seconded away from their normal duties to work on the UK's withdrawal from the EU; and what effect that secondment of staff has had on the effectiveness of his Department.

Victoria Atkins: The department has been continually assessing the resourcing levels required to prepare for EU Exit across all possible scenarios, developing contingency plans in line with government policy. It is not possible to provide the number of staff who have been moved from normal duties. This is because staff are generally engaged across a range of workstreams, which will include business as usual activity as well as EU Exit preparations, across all scenarios.To release existing capacity on to specialist roles to support the UK’s exit from the EU in an orderly manner, the Home Office took a number of reprioritisation choices in early 2019 to release capacity on to critical EU Exit roles. This was undertaken as part of a cross-government reprioritisation exercise.As a general principle, reprioritisation decisions within the Home Office focussed on areas of its domestic work which could be scaled back or slowed, thus alleviating the need to halt these areas of work in their entirety whilst fulfilling the need to release the required numbers of specialist resource on to critical EU Exit roles.To minimise the overall demand for internal reprioritisation, the Home Office also sought to secure resource through the Cabinet Office clearing hub, a government-wide initiative set up to meet the demands of EU Exit through cross-departmental redeployment of resource across policy and operational delivery roles.

Crimes of Violence: Nottinghamshire

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce youth-related violence in (a) Mansfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire.

Victoria Atkins: The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy sets out 61 actions and commitments to tackle serious violence. It places an emphasis on prevention and early intervention to tackle the root causes and steer young people away from crime in the first place alongside a robust law enforcement response.Action delivered through the Strategy to date includes:• Our Early Intervention Youth Fund of £22m which is already supporting 29 projects in England and Wales to deliver interventions to young people at risk of criminal involvement, gang exploitation and county lines;• A new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to tackle violent and exploitative criminal activity associated with county lines;• The new Offensive Weapons Act which strengthens legislation on firearms, knives and corrosive substances;• Delivering our national knife crime media campaign - #knifefree - to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime among young people.On 2 October 2018 the Home Secretary also announced further measures to address violent crime in the UK including:• The £200 million Youth Endowment Fund, which will be delivered over the next 10 years to support interventions with children and young people at risk of involvement in crime and violence, focusing on those most at risk. The charity Impetus, working in partnership with the Early Intervention Foundation and Social Investment Business, is now operating the Fund• An Independent Review of Drug Misuse, to be chaired by Dame Carol Black, which will look into ways in which drugs are fuelling serious violence. • A consultation on a new legal duty to underpin a ‘public health’ approach to tackling serious violence. This consultation launched on 1 April 2019 and closes on 28 May.The Home Office has funded five knife crime prevention projects in Nottinghamshire through the Anti-Knife Crime Community Fund since 2017 to support those most at risk of involvement in knife crime. The Home Office has also provided funding to the charity Redthread to support the expansion of their youth violence intervention scheme in hospital emergency departments and we have supported the development of this service at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham.On 13 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £100 million to tackle serious violence, which includes £80m of new funding from the Treasury. The majority of the investment will go towards supporting the police forces most affected by the violence we are seeing, but the funding will also support Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies, including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach to preventing serious violence. £63.4 million of this funding has been allocated to 18 police forces most affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, including increased patrols, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. Nottinghamshire Police has been allocated £1,540,000 from the serious violence fund.

Mortgages: Fraud

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to prevent joint mortgages being used as a method of financial abuse.

Victoria Atkins: Following our public consultation last year, on 21 January we published a landmark draft Domestic Abuse Bill, consultation response and research on the societal costs of domestic abuse. This work contains a ground-breaking series of measures to transform our response to all forms of domestic abuse – including economic abuse – by promoting awareness, supporting victims, tackling perpetrators and improving services.We are explicitly including economic abuse in the proposed new statutory definition of domestic abuse in the draft Bill to acknowledge the life-changing impact that economic abuse can have on a victim’s life and to raise awareness of this issue amongst criminal justice agencies and frontline professionals.In our Government consultation response published alongside the draft Bill we set out our commitment to fund the National Skills Academy £200,000 to develop and deliver financial capability training for frontline workers to support individuals who are experiencing economic abuse. We are also providing approximately £250,000 until 2020 to create a national advice service for banks and building societies, increase the capacity of existing telephone casework services for victims of domestic abuse and develop resources to help people identify if they are experiencing economic abuse.In addition, we are working closely with UK Finance to support their work to encourage banks and the wider financial services sector to improve the support they provide to victims of domestic abuse accessing their services, such as the voluntary Code of Conduct for banks to sign up to and a Consumer Information Pack setting out for victims what support they can expect from their bank. We will continue to work with UK Finance to encourage banks and financial authorities to do more to support victims of domestic abuse and help them move forward to escape debt, joint accounts, and mortgages.More widely, the Joint Fraud Taskforce is leading an ambitious programme of work to prevent all forms of fraud and protect the most vulnerable in our society who are often targeted by fraudsters.

Domestic Abuse: Immigrants

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to hold discussions with migrant women survivors of domestic abuse on the draft Domestic Abuse Bill.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse and continues to engage with victims, survivors and the sector on this issue.On 8 March 2018 the Government published the consultation, Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse, setting out our proposed approach to tackling domestic abuse. The consultation received over 3200 responses from a range of sources including, victims and survivors, support organisations and research experts. The knowledge and expertise extracted from the consultation have informed the measures included in the draft Domestic Abuse Bill and package of non-legislative initiatives.On 15 May 2019, I, together with the Minister for Immigration (Caroline Nokes), the Minister of State for Equalities (Baroness Williams of Trafford) and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice (Edward Argar) co-hosted a Round Table on migrant women affected by domestic abuse. Representatives from the sector were invited to discuss the issues facing migrant women affected by domestic abuse and the opportunities to tackle these issues.The Home Secretary and I are committed to continue this engagement with domestic abuse survivors and representatives from the sector, to ensure the Bill and supporting programme of work is effective and achieves our aim to transform the Government’s response to domestic abuse.

Religious Buildings: Security

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral statement of 7 May 2019 on Places of Worship: Security Funding, Official Report, column 468, whether places of faith other than places of worship will qualify for funding for the Ramadan Package.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral statement of 7 May 2019 on Places of Worship: Security Funding, Official Report, column 468, whether places of worship will be required to demonstrate proof of a previous attack to qualify for the Ramadan Package.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral statement of 7 May 2019 on Places of Worship: Security Funding, Official Report,column 468, how much funding his Department has allocated to date from the Ramadan Package.

Victoria Atkins: Following the attacks in New Zealand, we recognised the increased security anxieties being felt by mosques as we approach Ramadan. A security training scheme commenced on the 5 May. We originally committed to 12 workshops but following significant interest we have agreed to fund an additional 10 workshops during Ramadan.These workshops have been open to faith leaders and have not been restricted to those who have experienced a previous hate crime. We have also made available funds to pay for the distribution of written advice to mosques, community centres and madrassahs. This is a short-term project for which we have awarded grant funding of £74,725 that will sit alongside the wider £5m fund that has been announced for security training for all faiths.

Religious Buildings: Security

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the security funding for places of worship has been allocated to protect (a) Mosques and (b) other Muslim places of faith since 2016.

Victoria Atkins: Over its first three years, the Places of Worship protective security scheme has approved grants worth approximately £1.5m to 134 places of worship. During that time, Ministers have approved 49 grants to mosques worth £638,906.34.Following the Finsbury Park terror attack in June 2017, we also announced a £1m fund to protect vulnerable faith institutions. Under this scheme, we approved funding to 38 faith institutions including 19 mosques and one Muslim community centre. These grants were worth over £260,000.

Human Trafficking: Children

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to increase the availability and quality of specialist care and support for child victims of trafficking.

Victoria Atkins: Independent Child Trafficking Advocates (ICTAs) are an independent source of advice for trafficked children and somebody who can speak up on their behalf.The Government has successfully rolled out ICTAs to one third of all local authorities in England and Wales, in line with the commitment made in July last year. Where the service is available, all children that are potential victims of trafficking are eligible for support.The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act led by Frank Field, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Maria Miller has recently considered Section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which makes provisions for ICTAs. The Review’s final report can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act-final-reportThe Government is currently carefully considering the recommendations of the review on the improvements we can make to the ICTA service, and we remain committed to rolling ICTAs out nationally.

Antisocial Behaviour

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to enable (a) communities and (b) victims to have a greater input into policies and approaches on tackling antisocial behaviour.

Victoria Atkins: The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced two measures that give communities and victims an input into policies and approaches on tackling anti-social behaviour. They are the Community Trigger and the Community Remedy.The Community Trigger, also known as the anti-social behaviour case review, gives victims of persistent anti-social behaviour the ability to demand a formal case review (where a locally defined threshold is met), in order to determine whether there is further action which can be taken. Any individual, community or business can make an application for a case review, and the relevant bodies must carry out a case review if the threshold is met.The Community Remedy gives victims of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour a say in the punishment of perpetrators who receive an out of court punishment.

Cabinet Office

European Parliament: Elections

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's management of the 2019 European elections breached EU law.

Kevin Foster: The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentaryelections and put in place all the legislative and funding elements to enable Returning Officers tomake their preparations required for the polls on 23 May. The Government worked with ReturningOfficers and the Electoral Commission and other agencies such as the Society of Local AuthorityChief Executives (SOLACE) and the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) to support thesmooth running of the polls.

EU Nationals: Electoral Register

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many EU nationals were registered to vote in the 2019 local elections.

Kevin Foster: I refer the Honourable Member to my answer given to Question 257793 of 4 June 2019.

Treasury

Rolling Stock: Manufacturing Industries

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take fiscal steps to support the rolling stock manufacturing sector in the upcoming (a) spending review and (b) Budget.

Elizabeth Truss: All decisions on future funding are for the Spending Review, where the government will consider its priorities in the round.